Film of the Week: RV

This may not have been the best performer at the box office, but if you're a fan of Robin Williams, you would definitely enjoy this movie. A family going on a vacation was, at the time of this film's release in 2006, considered unoriginal. Countless films have had that motivation for their characters, it must have been difficult to write this without touching the age old cliches... or, at least that's what I've read from film critics. I've seen my fair share of films that if I were to come across an entire boat load of family vacation films, I would have listed a few but the only one I can think of whilst writing this review is "What We Did On Our Holidays," a film that came out years after this one, and was absolutely nothing like RV.

If I genuinely have missed an entire section of IMDB dedicated to family vacation films and this one is adding to that long list which gave the critics motive to state how unoriginal RV's story is, then maybe I'm not that big of a film buff as I once believed to be. And if there really is that many family vacation films out there, then I will defend RV's originality by stating only two words: Robin Williams. If you wanted uniqueness in your films, then hire Robin Williams, who was noted to be an unstoppable improvisational machine but could also act his heart out against a script. RV is no exception.

The reason why I chose this film was, whilst at work, a song from a random playlist on YouTube which is featured in this film started playing. I haven't heard that song in ages, and to be completely honest the last time I probably had heard that song was when watching this film, which was also ages ago.

I thought about re-watching the film to have a refresher course, but the moment I thought about this film, it all came flooding back to me. I was able to recount the funniest scenes in the movie almost picture perfect, and I almost found myself laughing seemingly for no reason, which would have looked rather weird from other people's perspective, seeing a grown man suddenly burst out laughing for no apparent reason.

You know what there are an abundance of, feel-good movies. Heck, that description is an entire genre in of itself, where the audience feels warm and comfortable as all the characters get their happily-ever-after ending after going through a series of struggles. I can name a good few feel-good movies off the top of my head, and you know what makes that genre different from every other out there? It doesn't matter how many there are, if any one of those films can make you feel good, you're not going to criticise it for being unoriginal. Once you've been tucked into your sofa, there's no need to be negative about anything. RV sits perfectly within that genre, and will make sure you're not only tucked into your sofa, but with a hot chocolate in hand, a bowl of popcorn in your lap, and a couple of pillows moulded around your neck for added effect. The critics may say there are too many family vacation films out there, but who cares when you're made to feel-good whilst watching RV, and laughing your head off from Robin William's performance, which is guaranteed to make your laugh no matter how many times you've seen the movie.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)